Meet 16-year-old Halima a Grade 8 learner at Miasenyi Junior School in Taita Taveta County. Halima is a beneficiary of the Youth First Kenya (YFK) personal resilience and health curriculum that seeks to impart learners with requisite skills to be able to bounce back and thrive in the midst of tough challenges that life throws at them. She is happy to share her story of resilience, having gotten pregnant at 15 years of age but not lost hope of achieving her goal of becoming a teacher. She was able to take a break from schooling, carried her pregnancy to term, gave birth and returned to pursue her education. The YFK program was developed by WorldBeing and adapted for Kenya and is being implemented by Basic Needs Basic Rights Kenya with support from the Echidna Giving Fund and Fondation d’Harcourt.    

I want to become a teacher

My goal in life is to become a teacher so that I can be able to take care of myself and my child. I am therefore working hard in my academics to achieve this. I would like to become a science teacher nevertheless, my favourite subjects are Science, Kiswahili, Social Studies and Christian Religious Education.

My goal of becoming a teacher got a bit derailed when I got pregnant last year when I was in Grade 7. As I speak, I have an 11-month-old son at home.

My family prefers to marry me off

Attending school regularly has been difficult for me because I have to balance between caring for my child and schooling.

I stay with my grandmother and mother, but they have never offered me any assistance in caring for my newborn. My mother has a mental health condition therefore she can’t really help whereas, my grandmother would rather I drop out of school and get married as she says that our culture does not care much about educating girls.

Luckily for me, my elder sister who stays nearby, is more supportive although she has a family of her own. Therefore, every morning, I leave my child at my sister’s place and head to school then later in the day after I am through with my classes, I go pick her up. A couple of years ago, my sister had a similar experience as myself though she opted to drop out of school and get married. I however, am determined to pursue my education.

My teachers have been very supportive

The primary reason I have been able to continue with my education is because of the strong support system I have in my school. To start with, my teachers advised me not to quit school despite losing five months of the year due to my pregnancy. They allowed me to continue with schooling till my pregnancy was almost due, I took a 5-month break, went and gave birth, and returned to continue with my studies.

The school administration also supports me in school through waiving my school fees and even allowing me breaks in between classes to rush to my sister’s place to breastfeed. My teachers also contribute financially to many of my daily expenses such as food, sanitary items and essential baby care items for my son.

My main character strengths are hope and love of learning

Through Youth First Kenya, I have learnt that I have character strengths such as hope and love of learning which is evident in the fact that I haven’t lost hope in spite of my difficult situation and in spite of having the easy option of dropping out of school, I have chosen to pursue my studies. I am hopeful that I will be able to attain my goal of becoming a teacher and care for myself and my child.

My advice to girls like me is that pregnancy is not the end of life therefore, they should still pursue their education even in the unfortunate event that they get pregnant at a young age.

I am a true testimony of this as despite being pregnant and missing a couple of months of school, I was still able to return, catch up with my studies and have been able to maintain good grades.

After high school, I intend to join Pwani University to pursue a bachelor’s degree in education.